Roger Williams University achieved its highest ranking yet with yesterday’s U.S. News & World Report release of its 2009 rankings of America’s colleges and universities.

The Bristol school was eighth in the region among comprehensive colleges granting bachelor’s degrees. Its standing in last year’s report was ninth.

The report separates schools into categories and regions, such as liberal arts, baccalaureate and national universities. The ranking formula takes account of factors such as SAT scores, peer reputation, selectivity and alumni giving.

Roger Williams’ administration attributes the rise to improvements in its acceptance, freshmen retention and graduate rates, as well as its student/faculty ratio. They also say incoming students’ academic qualifications and the school’s reputation played a role in the move up in the rankings.

“We’ve worked tirelessly over the past decade to turn Roger Williams University into a top-tier liberal arts school in the Northeast,” President Roy J. Nirschel said in a news release. “While college rankings are just one indicator of our success, we’re gratified that our peers have acknowledged the tremendous progress achieved at RWU in recent years.”

Other area schools also remained mostly steady in their rankings.

Dropping two spots this year, Brown University, in Providence, ranked 16th among the nation’s best colleges academically. The University of Rhode Island, in South Kingstown, was listed in that category’s third tier, schools that finished between 134 and 188. A ranking isn’t shown for third- and fourth-tier finishers. Instead, the schools are listed alphabetically.

Providence College also fell in its category: north region colleges that grant master’s degrees. Last year, it tied Loyola College and Fairfield University for the second spot. PC is now third behind Loyola and Villanova.

Bryant University, in Smithfield, however, moved up from 17th to 16th in the same category as PC. Salve Regina University, in Newport, shares the category as well. It held the same 35th spot as in the 2008 report.

Other area schools in that category — which reviewed 179 schools total — were Rhode Island College and Johnson & Wales University, both in Providence. They were listed in the third tier, alphabetically without a ranking.

The full rankings and other information about each school assessed can be found online at www.usnews.com.

apina@projo.com